Northern Ireland GCSE Syllabus.

WHAT YOU WILL BE LEARNING ABOUT

Geography is a very relevant and interesting subject to study. When we study it we learn about the world and its people. We study the physical landscape as well as the man made environment and we try to discover how each influences the other.

We study three units over the two year course:

Unit 1: Understanding Our Natural World
Theme A: The Dynamic Landscape (rivers & coasts)
Theme B: Our Changing Weather and Climate (weather elements, systems & climate change)
Theme C: The Restless Earth (rocks, plate tectonics & earthquakes)

Unit 2: Living in Our World
Theme A: People and Where They Live (population, settlement & urbanisation)
Theme B: Contrasts in World Development (the development gap & sustainable solutions)
Theme C: Managing Our Resources (traffic management, renewable energy & waste management)

Unit 3: Fieldwork Report
Controlled Assessment – a report of no more than 2000 words based on primary data collected by the students. This will involve going on a fieldtrip to collect information about our chosen topic and displaying the results in tables, graphs and maps. The topic to be investigated changes annually.

HOW YOU WILL BE ASSESSED

Each of the papers has three multi-part questions which means there are no long essay type answers to write.

Entry

There are 2 tiers of entry for the examination.

Foundation Tier - students can expect to achieve grades C - G.

Higher Tier - students can expect to achieve grades A* - D.

CAREER OPPORTUNITIES

Geography is a very useful subject to study. An important part of studying the subject is weighing up information and making informed and reasoned decisions. This is something that you need to practise when you are young because it is a skill you will need throughout the rest of your life. Other important skills developed in Geography are thinking skills, spatial awareness, social responsibility, citizenship and an understanding of the need to live in a sustainable manner.

Geography is a subject that is useful in many careers such as agriculture, architecture, cartography, civil service, education, landscape architecture, local government, planning, transport and communications, tourism, the leisure industry and many more.